Despite the increased popularity of STEM education worldwide, there is much haziness about what constitutes STEM education. This theoretical paper seeks to stimulate discussion on what STEM is and how it should be implemented. It positions an integrated STEM approach as foundational to education but advocates a shift from the compartmentalized focus on the silos of subject disciplines to one that is phenomenon-based. It uses the theoretical framework of phenomenon-based learning to argue that STEM should be used as a methodology for guiding all learners, including early childhood students, in the development of higher order thinking and the 21st century skills required to be globally competitive individuals.